Oda Mae Brown was given many characteristics that whites think are innate to black people. Her clothing was very different than the white characters and many white people may think her choice of clothes is funny. She is portrayed as a scam artist, a thief, and stingy; basically all stereotypes attributed to African-Americans. I believe the writers of this film also strategically picked the two female actors. Molly is a petite white woman who represents the damsel in distress. This is seen throughout the movie when Molly is in danger and Sam tries to save her especially in the end when Carl tries to kill her. To many people she is much more attractive than Oda Mae. who has a little weight on her, and I think this is because in most movies no black actress must ever be more beautiful than the white one because the attention must almost always be on the white character. Molly also has a quieter and softer voice than Oda Mae which also makes her more attractive.
There were many other minority characters presented in this film. The viewer sees the occasional well dressed black person in the background but they are not shown long and the focus isn’t on them because they are successful. It is assumed they have lives and identities but the only importance in this film in the lives of the white person. I believe that writers sometimes put characters like this in movies, even if only for a second, because they know that minorities will complain if everyone in the film is portrayed as the typical black. The workers who helped Molly and Sam move in were Hispanic; just another way to show that minorities will always work for white people. Willie, who is presented as the bad guy, was also Hispanic; so either we work for the white man or we work against him. There doesn’t seem to be an in between in this film. Willie also lived in a bad neighborhood, wore dirty clothes, and didn’t have well groomed hair. He also was characterized as violent, a thief, and lusting after the white woman. He is shown in Molly’s apartment watching her undress and it is apparent that he wants her. Willie even though he is Hispanic could represent a modern day free slave. He enjoyed his way of life but still needed the white man to survive. The white characters were afraid of him and he did illegal things to harm whites in this film.
This film presents unhealthy images of African Americans as well as all other minorities. Although the characters have lives and identities they are still mainly portrayed as either bad people or always helping white people. Their lives for the duration of this film seem to be about satisfying a white character. Willie works to satisfy Carl and even gets killed in the process. Oda Mae works to satisfy Sam. Minorities are definitely still shown to be imprisoned by images. For example, minorities are shown to be fools because they can’t see through Oda Mae’s scam. However, as soon as Sam comes along he immediately realizes that she is faking. This is trying to show that whites are smarter because they can easily figure out things while minorities are tricked and waste their money. Minorities are still shown to be controlled and manipulated by whites. Even though Sam is dead and can really do no harm to Oda Mae she still allows him to control her and does whatever he says. Willie, even though he can survive on his own, still allows Carl to tell him what to do. This film also promotes the notion that minorities need whites to be successful. Oda Mae couldn’t really communicate with the dead before Sam arrived but as soon as he shows up her powers magically appear. So now Oda Mae can run an honest business because the white man has given her the power. It is also shown later that many ghosts came to her and she was pleasing her customers. Ghost also subtly shows how careless blacks are. When Oda Mae gets the check for 4 million dollars she starts to talk about what she will spend her money on saying she will send her sister to a fat camp. They couldn’t show her saying she would invest it or help her community because in white people’s eyes that just wouldn’t be right. Lastly, the idea that blacks don’t have much money is present also. When Oda Mae goes to the bank the white man is literally shocked that she would have an account with such a big amount of money in it.
The white characters are shown more realistically just as they were in Mandingo and Super Fly. Carl was a successful white man but he was portrayed as the bad guy in the film. Unlike Birth of a Nation, where all whites were good people this film shows the complete opposite. The people who Carl are working with are white (I assume) and they are also bad guys in this film. I also thought that the way the white characters were dressed throughout the movie was interesting. They showed more skin than the black characters which is opposite of what we usually see. Many writers usually try to depict the black characters as promiscuous but in this movie we only see the white characters behave in this manner. Molly and Sam have a sex scene in the beginning, Carl spills coffee on his shirt and takes it off and shows his chest, and Molly throughout the movie wears clothes that show her arms and cleavage. On the other hand, everything that Oda Mae wore showed her fully clothed and showing hardly any skin. This could be saying that black bodies are not beautiful and therefore should be covered up and white bodies should be cherished.
This film does not represent progress in African American depiction. Although the characters have identities and lives they still have the same stereotypical characteristics that were present in Gone with the Wind and Birth of a Nation. It is just less explicit in this film. You have to really be paying attention to notice certain things. For one the main black character is a stock character, which was criticized by many black leaders. That and the fact that Oda Mae was a scam artist are the only two things that the viewer will notice without really trying. As I have discussed mostly every other stereotype is present you just have to look for them
